Tribalism Case Study

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The role of tribalism in choosing partners. Inclinations to tribalism may not be the primary reason for choice of partner, but may provide as an aid for group selection. In a 1986 study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, factors among those that were considered most important to marital relationship decisions were that their spouse was religious, kind or considerate, artistic/intelligent, and easygoing/adaptable. Religion as a bonding agent in human relationships has taken on a much stricter role that simply a preference in choosing a mate. Religion has not only mandated the laws of marriage within it. It has also mandated laws that do not allow for inter-religion relationships. This type of group selection works to maintain …show more content…

The three bases of Darwinian evolutionary thought state: all animals struggle for existence, inherited traits from parent organisms are passed to offspring, and natural selection provides an advantageous environment for adaptive genes to thrive and usurp the presence of less adaptive genes within the gene pool, in terms of expression (Shoemake). Evolutionary psychologists propose that this theory holds significant influence within the realm of mate selection in humans. Based on these Darwinian principles, successful mate behaviors led to the continued existence of humanity; historically, humans mate preference reflected the best suited pairings that would further the species evolutionarily. Another key component of the evolutionary model comes from the contribution of Robert L. Trivers, an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist: the parental investment theory. In short, Trivers’s theory states that individuals facing higher levels of involvement during child-rearing become highly selective when choosing a potential mate. Following Trivers’s research, females are choosier when it comes to mate selection because their minimum risk regarding parental investment is higher than that of male counterparts. Agreement with the model is revealed in Harvard biologist Edward Wilson’s work, On Human Nature. On the topic of sex and mate selection, Wilson affirms that it is to the advantage of

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